Page 60 of Lady Killer

“Take care, Luz.”

I didn’t answer him as I rushed out the doors, power walking until I caught up to a larger group of students headed toward the quad. Tucking myself in behind them, I stayed in their shadow until they dispersed closer toGabriel College House and from there made the quick dash across the quad by myself.

The sickening sensation of guilt clung to my every step.

I had been trying to taunt the killer. To bait them into coming after me.

Instead, they took another girl.

And now, there was blood on my hands.

Chapter eighteen

Locke

Walking into Granger Hall, I was met with the scent of floor polish as I came through the doors, the facilities staff giving me a deferential nod as I walked in.

DC had taken longer than I wanted, forcing me to miss a couple of classes.

The Statlers were still alive . . . for now. After losing a couple of their top men, they were suddenly more amenable to negotiations.

Dominic had informed me that Luz had in fact shown up to lecture last week, despite the cold advisory. Apparently, she had been in a right mood about it.

What a shame.

I, of course, assured him that I’d included Luz in the class message and felt awful that the poor girl had made a mistake.

“Good morning, Dr. Blackwell,” cooed Stephanie, the department receptionist.

The only reason I knew her name was the large placard on her desk.

With her box-blonde hair, caked-on makeup, and polyester clothes, a woman like Stephanie existed in a different stratosphere than I did.

Still, contempt for someone never stopped me from using them before. And the easiest way to use people was to convince them that you liked them.

“Good morning, Stephanie, how have things been?”

“You know, quiet around here. Most of us stayed home last week.”

I kept a grin plastered on my face as I pretended to listen to her prattle on for precisely another minute before politely cutting her off to excuse myself and head for my office.

Having Stephanie fired and replaced with a less chatty receptionist was a regular consideration.

Unfortunately, that would simply mean having to build a false rapport with a whole other human being, and frankly, it didn’t seem worth the effort.

Tension lingered in my shoulders as I cracked my neck and unlocked the door to my office.

As I swiped my pass, an awareness kicked in and I spun to confront the intruder, only to be confused by the lack of anyone in the space.

Nothing was out of place, except . . .

A crudely drawn dick in the middle of a dried-up, filmy puddle of what looked like glue at first but clearly wasn’t stood out against the blackwood of my desk.

“I’ll skin him alive.”

There was only one person both brave enough to break into my office and stupid enough to come up with such a childish and disgusting prank.

“Stephanie,” I roared, flinging open the door, “get Facilities in here immediately.”

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